Pick Up
by 9r7g5h
Summary: If she had just picked up her phone...


**AN:**My first Iron Man Fanfic, and perhaps the shortest non-poem thing I have ever written. Now, don't get me wrong, because I loved The Avengers. And while I admit that it was much more realistic for Pepper to not pick up her cell phone, I really wish that she had. So, here's my idea of what a short conversation between Pepper and Tony might have been like had she answered him. I hope you like it! :)

**Disclaimer:**I do not own Iron Man. Marvel does, and I think Disney owns them now.

* * *

"Sir, would you like me to try Ms. Potts?"

"You might as well," Tony grunted out through half gritted teeth, the weight of the missile pressing heavily against his back despite the flight stabilizers that were taking most of the weight. Already he could see the portal that was his destination clearly, the small pinprick that it had been just moments ago already widening to the size of a small ball in the time span of just a few seconds. Soon, very soon, he would be flying through it, flying into another galaxy that was somewhere far, far away, and the likelihood was that he would not be coming back.

He had to at least say goodbye to the best thing that had ever happened to him.

"Come on Pep, pick up," Tony muttered after what seemed like an eternity of the phone ringing in his ears, his eyes flitting between his flight path to ensure that he didn't hit anything and the picture that had appeared on his screen the moment he had confirmed Jarvis' suggestion. Her smiling face, her soft red hair pulled back into a ponytail, and her sparkling blue eyes drew him, a much nicer picture then the one reality was currently trying to throw at him. Perhaps, this way, should the circuits hold together long enough, he would at die looking at someone he loved, even if he couldn't hear her voice one last time.

"Come on Pep, pick u-"

"Tony! What the hell is going on there?"

"Hey Pep. How's DC," Tony asked with a grateful sigh, some of the tension running from his body as the soothing, if hysterical, voice of one Pepper Potts rang in his ears. He still wasn't too sure about the existence of a god, but if there was one, he was grateful that at least, out of all the ones he had said over his lifetime, this prayer was the one that was answered. "I hear the weather's a little brisk this time of year."

"Tony, I'm watching," Pepper replied with shaking words, her fear (for him, maybe?) clear within the slight tremble that controlled her voice. "I'm watching everything, including you fly with a bomb on your back. Just what is going on there? No one can give me a straight answer, only guesses and conjectures and are those the other superheros that Fury was having you look at fighting? And just what are you fighting, and-"

"Pepper, Pepper, Pepper," Tony said quickly, raising his voice to be heard over her nervous string of questions. "If you're watching, then you know I don't have a lot of time to talk." Indeed, the portal was filling his entire vision now, so large that he could no longer gauge how much time he had left by its size. Soon, he would be entering into another galaxy, and he doubted their service company had towers out there. If he wanted to say it, he had to say it now.

"Tony, what are you planning on doing? Throw the damn thing in and-"

"That's not an option Pepper," Tony interrupted once again, his own voice smooth and calm, the voice of one who had accepted his fate. "I need to make sure that this nuke doesn't fall back down into Manhattan, and to do that I need to go with it."

"Tony, please-"

"Pepper Potts," Tony said softly, fixing his eyes upon the picture that floated almost just out of sight. If he was going to die, he would rather do it looking at the woman that meant the most to him then the stars that were to be his grave. "Pepper Potts, I'm sorry. I'm sorry for everything."

"And I love you."

With that, the connection broke off as Tony Stark, the one and only Iron Man, entered the portal that would lead him to his doom. Because of this, Tony never heard the voice of Pepper Potts calling his name, crying out in fear as the portal began to close behind him, and screaming into the phone that had long since gone dead that she loved him too.


End file.
